Car-roof.



B. s. WARREN} I GAR ROOF.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2, 1906.

Patented Dec. 1908.

3 SHEETS- 8BX61 1.

B s. WARRENQ V GAR 300?. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2', 1906.

.H e 8 2 I w m w mm WM 4 ,W m 7 n D H MY n d S n e no 7) t fa m f L 7 P B. s. WARREN. GAR ROOF. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2, 1906.

905,962. 4 I Patented Dec.'8,1908.

-' 8 SHEETS-$113131 3.

s. nurosins e sons, or r DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATEON 0F l/HGH GAE.

chances.

No. eoaeee.

Specification of Letters Zeten-t.

Patented Dec. s, ieoe.

Application filed. January 2, 19%. No. 29 34 316.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that l, BENJAMIN S. Wsnnnn, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Roofs, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. p

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in car roofs, and consists in the construction of a car roof of sheet metal, which roof is adapted to have a longitudi nally sliding motion on the car at the eaves, with aspring or yielding connection between the roof and the car body, so that as the spring tends to resist thislongitudinal move ment it tends to return the roof to its original'or initial position.

The invention further consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts, as more fully hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a pore ective View of a sheet which is of the kind prefer to use embed in m invention- Fi 2 is y g y c perspective vlew of the cave portion of a car roof, showing the lower edges of the sheets and the preferred manner of securing the sheets at the cave, my im roved device not being illustrated therein; ig. 3 is a vertical section through the cave portion of such a roof; Fig. 4- is a perspective View of the peak portion of the roof, the caps which cover the corner joints being removed; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the caps; Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the peak of the roof and through the cap 1n position; Fig. 7 is a section through the roof beside one of the. joints showing the preferred manner of making the spring connection between the roof and the car; Fig. 8 is an end elevation of Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a cross-section on line 03-40 of Fig. 7; Fig. 1.0 is a detached erspective view of the 011 by means of which I connect the sheets to t e car as shown in Figs? and 8; Figs. 11 and 12 are perspective and plan views respectively of a modified form of this connection; and Figs. 13 and 14 are perspective views of two other modifications of this connection.

At the present time there are two ways of connecting the socalled outside sheet metal car roof in position upon the sheathing of the sheets, connected by oints, upon the sheathing and then to nail or otherwise'secure the lower edge of the sheets tothe side of the car. The other way is to lay the sheet-metal sheets upon the sheathing allow at the eaves a longitudinal motion of the sheets, the sheets being connected together in this construction with a flexible joint.

it has been found in the actual use of cars that as they are coupled and as they travel over the road, particularly on curves, the car-frame yields, one side going forward and the other side going backward in relation to the center or ridge portion. When the outer covering or sheet metal car roof is nailed to the car or secured so that it can have no longitudinal travel at the eaves, the

tear out the securing means, or if the securing means are applied at the joint, to cut off permitting, this longitudinal travel and" tends to return the sheets to theiiioriginal or normal position. talso properly distributes thetravel at the eaves of the sheets and makes each joint take up its proper amount of travel and'thus prevents. the distortion or buckling oi the sheets.

The preferred form of roof to which I aply my invention comprises a sheet A, having the flexible-joints B at opposite edges, this oint being substantially oi the construction shown inPatent No. 655,941, to D. C. Ross, and consisting of interlocking inverted involute hooks a, preferably terminating in abutting flanges b, as clearly shown in Fig. 9. At the lower edge this sheet preferably has the curved extension C, terminating in an inwardly and upturned hook C", this extension and hook being 0 posits the fascia l), of the car, and below t e plane of the roof car, one,'and the ususl way, to lay the result of this yielding oi the car frame is to preferably has the upturned flange The opposite flanges oi the sheets are covered by an inverted U-shaped can F, and at the joints are preferably covered by a oint cap F which 18 secured to the roof by a bolt G, as shown in Fig. 6.

In order that the roof may be secured at the eaves free to have longitudinal motion, 1 secure to the fascia D preterably a series of books H (Fig. 3), which engage the hook U of the sheet and act as the holding-down means for the save portion thereof. The curved extension 0 is flexible and acts as a spring to take care of the expansion and contraction, and also any crosswise motion which the sheet may have upon the sheathing. With a roof thus constructed and having a free longitudinal movement of the eaves, as previously described, there is danthat one of the sheets will have more mo tion than the other, or that too great a motion. will-be imparted to the roof, causing buckling and damage to the sheets. In order to secure this root so to have a limited amount of longitudinal motion on the car and with the soring which. will tend to return it to its normal position, I employ the clip 1, shown in Fig. 10, as my preferred colostrum tion. This clip, in connection with this par ticular roof, consists of the plate 0, which is adapted to be secured to the fascia of the car, the curved portion d which embraces the curved extension '3 of the roof sheet, and at its upper end it has the inwardly projecting oin c, which is of a size to engage within the joint and has slot h adapted to engage the abutting flanges b of the two sheets, as shown in Figs. '7 and 9. When thus secured in position it is obvious that the sheets may have a longitudinal movement upon the car, and in such movement the clips i will remain stationary, the coiled joint surrounding the pin. c of the clip will act as a spring or yielding connection between the sheet and the clip. For instance, if the roof tended to move to the left, it would assume the nosition shown in dotted lines at J, Fig. 9, and if it tended to move to the right there would be room lorsuch movement in each oint and for each. sheet. T his is what I consider the preferred construction of roof sheet and connection to effect the result, and in this construction it will be observed that the ielding or springconnection is entirely in the joint or ill a portion of the roof sheet. It is obvious, however, that the resilient feature may be embodied in the clip itself, or may be embodied partially in the clip and partially in the roof sheets, and also that it may be applied to other styles of roof sheets having other styles of joints, and some of these I have illustrated in Figs. 11 to let.

In ligs. 11 a1 12 l have shown the roof sheets a, one havng" a hook i and the other an upstanding-flange Zr, forming an interlocked upstanding joint. I have shown a clip consisting oi the securing portion or ceases plate Z, with a spring" arm m extending up beside the joint and having the bifurcated portion n engaging on opposite sides of the joint. In this construction the s )ring or yielding ortion is entirely in the clip. In Fig. 13 l rave shown a construction similar to that shown in. Figs. 11 and 12-, except that the clip has a lateral extension 0 above the top of the joint, and a saddle 1" engaging the joint.

In Fig. 14 l have shown a construction in which part of the yielding is ell'ected in the roof joint and part by the cli' the clip in this construction consisting oi a plate the same as Z, and spring arm m and a bifurcated portion 17.. instead, however, of engaging on oopositc sides of an upstanding joint, I have s own the joint formed and then bent into an inverted id-shape, which provides the yielding portion 8 with which the bifurcated portion. it engages.

it is ohvious that other forms of my inv ntion may be devised, and that it may be a led to other forms of roof having other forms of joint; but so far as i know i am the first to construct sheet metal roof which is free to have a motion longitudinally of the car at the cave with. a yielding or flexible connection bet-we n the car and the roof.

"W hat 1 cl: m as my invention is,

l. The com. n with'a car, of a roof laid ti ercon free move longitudinally of the car, and flexible connection between the car and roe at the eaves resiliently resisting such longitudinal movement.

2. The combination with car, of a roof laid thereon. unsecured. the eaves against longitudinal motion, and a clip secured to the car and en aging the roof at the caves,

the construction such that the connec tion between the and roof resiliently resists but permits the cave portion of the rooi to have a limited longitudinal motion.

3. The combination with car, of an outside metal. roof unsecured. against longitudinal inovei'nent at the eaves, a bendable projection on the roof, and a clip secured to the car at the eaves engs lug such projection. so as to oermit the bending thereof for the purpose (.escribed of yieldingly resisting the longitudinal movement thereof.

4. The con'ibinatioo. with. a car, of an outside n'ictal rooi having flexible involute rolled joints, of a clip secured to the car and engaging said. joint so to permit a limited movement of the rooi sheets longitudinally of the car.

5. The combination with a car of an outside metal roo having flexible joints, said roof being free to have a movement longitudinally of the car, and a spring connection between the car and rool opposing such movement.

The combination with a car, an outside metal roof unsecured at the eaves against longitudinal movement, of clips secured to the ear and engaging each sheet so as to permit and at the same time resiliently resist a limited movement of the sheets longitudinally of the car.

7. The combination. with a car, of an outside metal roof having joints between the sheets and clips secured to the car and engaging each joint, the parts being so constructed as to permit a limited longitudinal movement of each joint upon tllQfCaI', and a spring acting to reslst such movement and to return the sheets to their normal or initial position.

8. The combination with a car of an outside metal roof having flexible joints, said reel being free to have movement longitudinall' of the car, and a spring connection between each joint and the movement.

9. The combination with a car, of an outside metal roof having joints, said roof being free to have movement longitudinally of the car opposing such 1 

